Gods of the High Wilderness
Leaving the Neath doesn't relieve an ex-zailor's superstitions, it merely changes their subjects. Tall tales of mysterious sky-gods spread far and wide, and as with their Unterzee counterparts, these stories may hold some truth. Of these stories, three gods stand out: the Burrower Below, the Storm that Speaks, and the Waste-Waif.__forcetoc__ The Burrower Below "You dream of falling. It's a common dream, here. The fogs that bedevil the High Wilderness are thick about you, and through them, below, you see something stir. A beast. A behemoth. Almost a dragon; almost a whale; almost a continent. It gnaws on the roots of heaven, and all the fogs of the Wilderness are its steaming breath. Its maw opens, wide as the gulf between stars." "You discover a stoker angrily defacing the engine's bible. He claims that here in the heavens, there are more pertinent gods than that of King James. Immediately, he launches into a sermon about the Burrower Below: the wyrm-mother, general-progenitrix of the Devourers of Days, who are called the Aeginae. "She tunnelled the paths across the sky! Every transit is a trespass! We must give praise!" The Burrower Below is apparently the mother of all dragons, such as Storm or the Silent Saint. She governs the lower regions of the High Wilderness and the "forgotten paths of the sky", such as the Avid Horizon and the regions of space that are occupied by the transit relays. Frequent usage of said relays might displease the Burrower. Rare event (20%): +10 x Attention: the Burrower Below "The passage is less pleasant than you had hoped. A crewman swears he saw something vast stirring in the sky's deeps, and raves about a "many-eyed burrower" to any who will listen."" The Burrower is strongly associated with promises. She despises skyfarers who broke their oaths, especially those made in her name. Those who anger her will have their souls marked for taking, and will be troubled by unusually thick fogs called the Burrower's Breath (which may or may not be her actual breath). Like her progeny, the Burrower eats time: not just the mined geodes of Hours, but also a person's remaining Hours of life. To bargain with the Burrower, a Sky-Captain must sacrifice either a geode of Hours, or several of their oldest crew. The Storm that Speaks "You dream of a storm whose lightning scratches words across the sky, and whose thunder is a cacophony of voices belonging to people you have known. Its winds pluck, pitifully, at your clothes. You are wearing black: sombre, funereal black." "The body of the sun is still cooling. A few embers continue to glow at its core, a low and sullen red. When Her Majesty entered Albion, she slew the sun with an experimental weapon: an Unclear Bomb. Then she claimed the sun's throne and dominion. You can't help feel that, as you gaze on the sun, the sun gazes back." The Storm that Speaks (not to be confused with Storm) is the lingering, tormented ghost of the King of Hours. The Storm can be encountered in Albion, speaking with voices of the past to those who may listen; for example, an ex-zailor may hear the voice of their former crew, a poet may hear the voice of their former rivals, and a scholar may hear the voice of their teachers. Worshipers of the Storm that Speaks typically have tattoos of a storm with multiple mouths, and tend to sanctify the past. Those who gain its attention report a sudden wave of nostalgia, which may either be disturbing or inspiring. It can also banish pesky phantoms of past deeds or events. Two of the Storm's lackeys hunt its foes: wandering sigils of lightning, not unlike the Logoi, that strike locomotives and show visions of the past; and the Whisperwinds, who entrance skyfarers with the voices of their loved ones, luring them to leave their locomotives. The Whisperwinds' lure might be avoided by swearing an oath to sabotage the "usurper-sun", who is extremely despised by the Storm for taking its throne. The Waste-Waif "You search your stores, but there isn't a flammable thing left in them which hasn't been frozen to the brittle consistency of old, bleak bone. The cold deepens, taking its toll of the crew. Shivering, wild-eyed, several of them report seeing a child on board. Clad in rags. Gaunt as twigs. Mouthless. They pray for deliverance from the Waste-Waif." "You have seen impossible things while you died. An April field sprouting across the bridge, bright with bluebells. People from your past, who kept you company as you froze. Now you see something else. A child. Frostbitten, hairless, wearing rags. It has no mouth. It reaches out, to close your eyes. How cold its fingers are! Colder than the frost that mantles you. Colder than your heart, now silent and still." Abandoned places are the Waste-Waif's domain, from the empty cabins of locomotives to the frozen domains of dead stars. It shepherds the cold wind of the heavens, and it favors the outcasts, the starving, and the dying. It is said that the Guests, the Wilderness's sentimental train-parasites, pray to the Waif. The Waif often appears to those that have its attention or anger in the form of a pale child wearing ragged clothing. Gaining its attention may lead you somewhere bountiful, or somewhere abandoned. Provoking it might leave one troubled by unusual cold, freeze one's crew, or worse - the least fortunate are lured to the Empty House, to be turned into the Waif's possessions. References Category:Characters Category:Nonhumans Category:The High Wilderness Category:Cited Category:Formatted